Resident DEvil
by RisingPhoenix7
Summary: After their adventures in the Bleach universe, the Devil Hunters have been sent to another universe…one where unsettling evil seems to reside…
1. Prologue: Déjà Vu?

**Resident DEvil**

(okay, so it's one extra letter; I still tried)

Disclaimer: Capcom owns not only Resident Evil and all its characters, but also owns Devil May Cry and all its characters. I say this not because there's any reason to think I own them, but to let you all know who to buy the video games from.

Rating: T, unless the violence gets a little _too_ squishy.

**Spoilers ahoy** for Bleach May Cry, so read on at your own risk.

The Story So Far…: Dante, Lady, Nero and Kyrie were all manipulated into confronting a group of hollows and traveling to the Bleach universe. Upon arriving, they met Ichigo and Rukia, helping them to clean up hollows. When Rukia was taken back to the Soul Society, they (minus Kyrie) joined forces with Ichigo's group in assaulting the afterlife. They fought their way through numerous Soul Reapers in an attempt to rescue Rukia from the clutches of her captors. They succeeded, but at a heavy cost; the traitorous Captain Aizen was able to steal the Hogyoku and escape, along with fellow treasonous captains Kaname Tosen and Gin Ichimaru. After bidding farewell to Ichigo and his friends, they followed The Sorcerer into another portal. But this world won't be as cheerful as Ichigo's. They must survive the horrors of this world if they ever wish to return to theirs…

Author's Intro: Well, this is odd for me. I usually avoid writing sequels like the plague, but this one just wouldn't quit. And since the Devil May Cry universe had its makings in the Resident Evil one, why not share a little? As for the story itself, this is mostly based off the Gamecube remake of the first game (with a few nods to other versions, especially the cheesier moments), and I'll try to tie both Jill and Chris's stories together as best I can.

Well, there's that. Now, to the part you've all been waiting for!

Prologue: Déjà Vu?

Dante landed, guns at the ready. But the sorcerer seemed to have disappeared again. He heard the others land behind him, and turned around to greet them. "Well, he ran off again, the coward. You guys okay?"

Lady and Nero nodded, but then Nero looked around frantically. "Wait, where's Kyrie?" He thought she'd landed with them, but she was gone. "Kyrie!" he called out. "KYRIE!"

Lady looked at the double doors behind her. "Hey, Nero, you might want to see this," she said.

Nero turned around, and looked at the doors. Scrawled across them in a red substance (looking eerily like blood) were the words "_She's safe. For now._" Nero made to open them, but then noticed another message below the first one: "_Beyond here be monsters._" He growled under his breath. "That black-cloaked bastard…"

Dante looked at the room they were in. It seemed to be the main foyer of a mansion. "Say, is it just me, or does this world seem a little…familiar?"

Lady turned to him, nodding. "Yeah. But I don't remember feeling like this in Ichigo's world. Wonder why that is?"

Dante shook his head. "Dunno. But this better not be another damn castle."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, there was Temen-Ni-Gru, Mallet Island, and Fortuna Castle," he said, ticking them off on his fingers. "Granted, Temen-Ni-Gru was more of a tower, and Fortuna was only part castle, but still, it's gettin' kinda overdone, you know?"

Nero shook his head, but then stopped as all three of them heard a gunshot. "What the hell?"

* * *

The man shot again at the advancing creature, but it still kept lurching at him. Taking aim again, his third shot went through its neck, finally bringing it down. It fell flat on its face, a pool of blood spreading under it. "What the hell is this thing?"

The woman shrugged, still breathing heavily. "I found Kenneth…_killed_ by this thing. Let's report this to Wesker."

* * *

Dante pressed his ear up against the door. "Hmm…huh?"

Lady looked at him in interest. "What is it?"

"Looks like we're not alone. Sounds like two people in that room: one man, one woman."

Nero walked toward Dante. "You think they can help us find Kyrie?"

He shrugged. "Worth a shot." He made to open the door, but it swung inward before he could grab the doorknob. "Hey, we're-"

"Hold it right there!" Suddenly, two guns were pointed at his face, and within the millisecond, he, Lady, and Nero were all pointing theirs right back. A lot of angry shouting broke out.

"Freeze!"

"Put the damn guns down!"

"Where the hell do you think you're pointing that?"

"What did you do with him?"

"That won't work!"

Dante, irritated, pointed his guns away from the newcomers and shot directly upward. Just as he'd hoped, the yelling miraculously stopped, but the tension wasn't relieved at all. "Look, we're not gonna solve anything by yelling, so why bother?"

Lady gave Dante a look of incredulity, but nodded. "Let's talk this through, before we start pointing guns around." She holstered her pistols to demonstrate, and Nero reluctantly followed suit, resisting the habit of spinning Blue Rose as it returned to its holster. Dante holstered Ebony & Ivory, shaking his head as he did so. _I suppose that even though them shooting me won't do anything, I might as well try not to freak 'em out too much._ The other two slowly lowered their weapons, then with a nod to each other, put them away.

Lady sighed. "Good. Now, where are we, and what's going on around here?"

The woman looked at her oddly. "You don't know where you are? How did you get here?"

She briefly considered telling the whole truth, but knew there was no way they'd accept it. Instead, she settled on a half-truth. "We got lost, and one of our group is missing, so we thought we might find her here." _Close enough, anyway._

The man shrugged. "Not a bad plan, but I gotta say, things aren't looking too good. There's some weird stuff going on around here."

Dante chuckled. "'Weird' is right up our alley. So, who are you guys, anyway?"

The woman looked at her companion, then looked back as they both flipped open badges. "Jill Valentine."

The man nodded. "Barry Burton. We're both members of the Special Tactics And Rescue Service."

Nero grinned, looking at Jill. "Valentine, huh? Nice beret."

* * *

"I hope to get the next story out as soon as possible"

Over a year later, well...

Still, it's good to get back to writing again! I'm a little rusty by now, but hopefully I'll get back in the groove soon.

As always, read and review, and point out any disappointing plot or spelling errors.

What lies in store for our heroes? Tune in next time for:

Chapter 1: Zombie Hunters

Which will be...right now!


	2. Chapter 1: Zombie Hunters

Nero held out his human hand. "But, anyway, nice meetin' you. Name's Nero."

"Lady," she added, waving once.

Dante flipped a Cub Scout salute. "Dante."

Jill looked at them expectantly. "Any last names to go with those?"

He shrugged. "Nope."

She opened her mouth to argue, but sighed. "I guess it doesn't matter right now. Look, we're trying to find the rest of our comrades, not to mention a way _out_ of this mansion." She looked at Barry. "What do you think, Barry? It's not exactly S.T.A.R.S. policy, but we could use an extra gun or two with those monsters running around."

He frowned. "I dunno…how do we know we can trust them? Wesker was in here, and then he's gone, and then we find _them_. Something's not right about this…"

Dante rolled his eyes. "Right, wrong; we're the ones with guns." He walked over to Jill, staring her down. "You don't like it, too bad."

She smirked. "Is that right? It's nice to hear that you're volunteering to be my backup."

He looked over at Lady. "You don't mind, do you?"

Lady rolled her eyes. "Tch…I can take care of myself. You should know that."

"You don't have that much ammo anymore," Nero reminded her. "I better go with you, just in case."

She looked at him with confusion…and then horror slowly began to settle in her gut. _Those clips they confiscated back in Soul Society…I never got those back! Which thieving, smug jackass was it that stole all my clips and never returned them?!_

* * *

Far, far away, Mayuri Kurotsuchi sneezed, nearly dropping the specimen jar he'd been holding. With a small shrug, he resumed his experiment.

* * *

"…Okay, fine," Lady sighed. "I guess we're a team."

Jill turned to look at Barry. "Is this all right with you? I don't want you to feel like we're excluding you…"

He shook his head. "Don't worry about it. But…" He looked at Dante's group. "Did any of you happen to see a guy with blonde hair, a radio headset, and a black vest?" Silence. "Figures. Before we go any further, we should search this hall for Wesker. Let's not leave it just yet."

Jill nodded. "Right." She looked at Dante. "We'll take left side of the second floor. You, um…Lady and Nero, you take the right side. Barry, can you handle this floor?" He nodded. "All right. Let's go."

They walked up the stairs, branching off to their respective sides. Jill checked one of the doors while Dante checked the other. "Nothing," she called out. "You?"

"Question!" Nero yelled. "Does it count if we break the doors down?"

"No," she called back. "I'd rather not give those…_things_ an easy way to chew on me."

"Then no."

"Nope," Lady called.

Dante sighed. "…You're _sure_ we can't bust them down?"

Lady fought the urge to throw something at him. It was a difficult battle indeed. "YES."

"Then I have nothing either." They all made their way back down. "You find anything, Scruffy?"

Barry chuckled. "No." His smile dropped. "But we should still keep looking. I'll head back to the dining room, and these two-" he motioned to Lady and Nero "-can come with and start exploring from there."

Jill nodded. "Okay. We'll take the door on the other side."

"Knowing places like this, it'll probably branch off even further," Lady added, eyeing Barry. "You sure you don't want some backup? If nothing else, we've got a few tricks up our sleeves."

"Nah. The more we can explore of this mansion at once, the better." He grinned, holding his pistol up. "Don't worry. I've got my own tools of the trade." His eyes lit up. "Oh, that reminds me!" He pulled something out of his pocket and handed it to Jill. "Here; you forgot your lock pick when you got out of the helicopter. I'd use it myself, but I'm no 'Master of Unlocking'," he finished, winking at Jill.

She sighed. "That awkward nickname just won't stop following me…but thanks, Barry."

He looked around at everyone. "Even with all this extra help, we should keep looking for Chris and Wesker. Let's start with the first floor, and if anything happens, we'll meet up in this hall. Got it?"

"Roger," Jill responded. They split up, Jill and Dante going one way and the rest going the other.

* * *

As soon as Jill and Dante entered the room, she uttered a phrase that would be the beginning of the mounting insanity that was yet to come for Dante…

"Hey, there's something shiny up in that vase."

Dante blinked. "…And?"

She sighed, vague regret of her choice of a partner stirring in the back of her mind. "It might be important; we should investigate it."

"…Are we going to do this _every_ time you spot something shiny? Mirrors are one thing; they're evil bastards that more often than not lead to other worlds. Usually demonic. But I draw the line if you start collecting glass shards, or glitter, or other things just as pointless."

"…Yeah. Well, while you're sitting and whining, mind giving me a boost to get it?"

"There's a perfectly good cabinet over there," he said, pointing past her, near the back of the room. "After all…THIS fine mug is not for stepping on," he finished, pointing at his own face with a charming (in his mind) grin.

Jill frowned. "So you're not going to help."

"Nope."

"Positive?"

"Yep."

* * *

As Jill stood on his shoulders (exactly _how_ she'd convinced him to allow it remained one of those mysteries of life), quite a few thoughts raced through his head, none of which were innocent. First, that she wasn't wearing a skirt (unfortunately). Then he thought about having her drop into his arms to catch her; it could have gotten her flustered (which would have been nice), it could have made her scream (which would have been hilarious), it could have made her chuckle (which would also have been nice) or he might have "accidentally" grabbed her butt while doing so (which would have been _really_ nice).

Unfortunately, before he could put such a "cunning" plan into action, she had simply leapt backward off his shoulders, landing neatly. "Got it," she said, holding the object up with a smile. She unfurled it, showing it to Dante.

He stared at it for a good long while, blinking slowly, until…

"How the _hell_ is a MAP shiny?!"

Jill rolled her eyes. "Well, it's laminated, obviously. Good thing for us, too; this should help us find our way around this mansion."

"But still…a SHINY map, for crying out loud!"

She fixed him with an irritable stare. "Well, if you want, you could always put it back there yourself."

True, he could. He _also_ could have just jumped up there and got it himself, but that wouldn't have allowed him to confirm certain…_ass_ets.

Eh, well; that plan fell through anyway. "Fine, fine. You can keep the shiny map, if it's so damn…" He quirked an eyebrow. "Jill, take a look at this map."

She complied, glancing all around it. "A lot of these rooms are marked." And indeed they were. One was marked "Goodies here", another "Spec. gun", another read "SUPER SECRET DOOR here", and another read simply "Piano".

Not only that, but each and every door was labeled with something. A few were unlocked (according to the map, anyway), and others read things like "Sword key", "Shield key", and such. And just like the other labels, all of them were written in beautiful penmanship.

"This writing looks like a four year-old's," Dante grumbled. "Who was the idiot who wrote all this?"

…

…That aside, the map nevertheless contained _highly useful_ information.

"I wonder why the 'Piano' room is circled so many times," Jill noted.

"Maybe the guy has a hard-on for music. It 'tickles his ivories', or something."

Or maybe it was a HINT of some kind.

…

Regardless, Jill pocketed the shiny map.

"Hmm…" Dante eyed the cabinet he'd pointed out curiously. "Is it just me, or does that look like it might go somewhere?"

Jill looked where he was gazing. "Now that you mention it…I think so. Let's investigate."

Dante shoved the cabinet out of the way easily, and they made their way down the hall beyond. Though it had various junk (some covered in drapes) lining it, they turned a couple corners before finding something of value…at a dead end.

Jill picked up the object. "It's a dagger."

"Thank you, Captain Obvious. That said, you hang on to it. You might need it."

"But what about-" She broke off, staring at the large sword attached to his back. Somehow. "You know, you're right, I think I'll take it with." She stuck it through her belt, then stared at a note the dagger had been lying on. "Huh…wonder what this is for?"

"A note? What's it say?"

She read it, frowning. "…I think it's a joke. Something about going to the 'Status Screen' to equip a 'Defense Item', and selecting…" She crumpled it up, tossing it away. "It's useless."

"Eh, don't sweat it. Walking dead, remember? People in here were probably going nuts, and wrote all kinds of crazy crap."

She nodded, walking past him and around the corner. "You might be right," she called back. "Now let's…" she trailed off into a startled gasp.

Dante blinked. "What's up?" Then he saw her backing up slowly.

Followed by a zombie.

"Uuuurrrghh…" it groaned.

She kept backing up until she was about to bump into Dante. "So, are you gonna shoot, or…?" Dante inquired.

His voice jolted her enough to make her stumble, but the sudden movement was all she needed to regain her wits. As soon as she hit the floor, she drew her gun, firing five shots into the zombie. It fell backwards, giving out one final groan.

Dante, rather than doing the gentlemanly thing and helping her up, walked over to the zombie and put another bullet in its head.

"Was that really necessary?" she asked as she climbed back to her feet.

"Have you NEVER heard the stories of how to kill zombies?" he asked incredulously.

"…No. So…those things are called zombies?"

Dante pinched the bridge of his nose. _Father, I sincerely hope you never had to put up with anyone THIS ignorant._

Retracing their steps, they returned to the dining room, finding it completely deserted.

"YO! Anybody here?" Dante called out. Silence was all that greeted him. "Damn…where'd they run to?"

Jill frowned. Not only were the normal people not present…but that…er… "zombie" that Barry had shot wasn't there either. There was no reason to drag the body away, and if that wasn't the case…

Jill didn't like what other options were left.

"Well, shall we?" Dante asked, motioning towards the door.

Jill nodded, unease building as they walked through it. They returned to the hallway she had fled earlier…and soon came across what remained of Kenneth.

His neck had been completely chewed through, and his head was now at least a foot away from the rest of his body. Her hand, shaking, reached out to the camera mounted on his shoulder, opening it and removing the film from inside.

Dante looked at her curiously. "Whatcha got there?"

"Kenneth…this is what his camera was recording." She clutched the small roll of film, willing herself not to crush it in anger.

"But…if that's a recording, aren't you gonna need a player to watch it?" Dante asked. He may not have a VCR player or such personally, but he knew how a jukebox worked with the CDs inside it.

She nodded. "Maybe…maybe if we can find one, we can find out some sort of clue about these things."

"It's worth a try." These zombies weren't that tough, but they were annoying. He was all for figuring out how to stop them showing up…or at least giving the guy who made them a solid punch in the face.

* * *

And thus, the first genuine chapter of this story. I hope you like it, and that I haven't made many errors, but don't be afraid to point them out!

On a related note, is it just me, or does nearly everyone in the remake of Resident Evil take teammate death a little TOO well? Not a conspiracy theory or anything, but it always bugged me that they barely mourn their co-workers and friends. Must be a horror movie thing.


	3. Chapter 2: Dante Hates Puzzles

They made their way further down the hallway, going through the door and ending up in-

"Another oh-so-spooky hallway. Why can't these idiots build someplace well-lit, or have nudie pics or something?" Dante grumbled.

Jill rolled her eyes. "Well, sheesh, Gramps. Sounds like _someone_ woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

Dante was ready to shoot back with an insult (probably with "yeah, well, you were blocking the other side" or something similar), but...he really did feel groggy. He felt the beginnings of a mild headache. It felt like he'd just woken up after sleeping months...or years, maybe. He felt like...what was that guy's name? Rip von...Wrinkle, or something? Oh, well. Not important.

Noticing a body in the corner of the room, he went over to investigate.

Dante glanced at the body of the man. Whatever had killed him, it had been quick. No pool of blood, no obvious wounds or other marks on the body; for all intents and purposes, it looked like the poor bastard had just keeled over. It wasn't something unheard of; when normal humans saw stuff like zombies, demons, or any of the things they considered "impossible", on occasion they had heart attacks on the spot. It'd never happened directly in front of Dante, but Lady had shown him the signs on one of their "team-ups", and he had noticed quite a few afterward with the very same signs.

"What's the C.O.D.?" she asked out of habit. As she realized Dante probably didn't know what the acronym meant, she started to rephrase, but Dante spoke before she could.

"Heart attack. I'm guessing this guy met one of our hungry friends somewhere around here, and the shock was too much."

Jill gaped. "You…can tell all that?"

He smirked. "This isn't my first zombie rodeo, cowgirl. I've seen people just like this during a few other jobs."

"You've encountered zombies before?!" she shouted. "Why didn't you tell us? Do you remember any details of the encounter?"

He held up his hands. "Hey, easy now. It's been a couple of times, sure, but those other times they were all raised through the use of curses and demonic magic. Hell, even had one idiot that tried to resurrect his dead kid by burying him on magic-infused ground…I think it was converted into an animal cemetery, or near one, or something…but he wanted him back something fierce. Didn't work out so well, and by the time the thing he summoned got taken down, it killed a couple people, including the guy's wife. Dumb bastard buried her in the same damn place to bring her back."

Despite her disbelief, she snorted. "You're kidding. Did the guy _have_ a brain?"

He gave her a dark grin. "He didn't after she came back."

"…I just know I'll regret this, but…where did it go?"

His grin turned nasty. "I guess summoning whatever it was into her body must have made her extremely hungry…"

"Ugh, _disgusting_!" But something clicked in the back of her mind. "But…I feel like I've heard about that story before. Was it recent?"

"Couple of years back, but yeah."

She could have sworn that there was an urban legend about exactly what he'd described. The story of the…something Seminary? Cemetery? She had the feeling that it started with a "P", but she was drawing a blank. "What the hell kind of day job do you have, anyway?"

_Ah, crap._ Hmm…Trish had prepared him with a good cover story in case of something like this, with cops asking questions (not that a jail could hold him if things turned sour, but he would prefer to keep his business as legitimate as possible), but he hadn't been paying attention at the time, and this was the first time he'd ever run into a situation where he'd needed it. _C'mon, Dante…what was it called again?…OH!_ "I'm a Paranormal Investigator. Just part of the job." _Please don't ask any more…I can't remember the rest of all the bull…_

Much to his relief, she nodded. "Hmm...if you say so. In most normal cases I wouldn't put any stock in that job…but most normal cases don't involve a zombie chewing on my ankles." That said, as he shrugged, she made a mental note to question him more later.

He smirked. "Well, to be fair, they're such tasty-looking ankles. I, for one, wouldn't mind a few-"

"Finish that sentence and I'll…well…I won't _shoot_ you, but I would settle for punching you several places."

Less violent than Lady, and with a better sense of humor. He was starting to like this girl. Still, she didn't quite have the wild nature Lady could have…as far as he could tell. "Fair enough." Best not to provoke the hot girl into shooting him; a heart attack on her would make things a lot more boring.

She looked around the room. As she turned to the birdcage, she paused. "…Dante?"

"What's up?"

"There's a clip. In this birdcage." She blinked. "Why is there a clip in this birdcage?"

"That…isn't a Zen riddle, is it? 'A clip may hold a birdcage together, but when does a birdcage hold a clip?', or something?"

What on earth was he…OH. He thought she meant a clip that fastened objects together. "No, no, not _that_ kind of clip. A clip for a gun."

He frowned, walking over to where she was. "…Huh. Well…I have no idea." He glanced back at the corpse. "…Maybe he went nuts and shoved it in the cage, thinking it was a gun?"

"Maybe. Or maybe he was trying to hide it from someone, and the birdcage was the closest place."

"Why the hell would he do that?"

"Well, maybe you're partly right. Maybe he went crazy."

Dante sighed. He was starting to get a bad feeling about this place…it felt all too familiar…

Jill shook herself out of her reverie. "Anyway, take it. You seem to be my 'big gun'."

"Nah. My guns are .45's, not 9 millimeters. It's all yours."

She shrugged, tucking the ammo into her belt. She may not be adept at killing zombies, but if that was going to change, she'd have to practice a little; best to have lots of ammo in that case. Having done so, she looked at the stairs next to the birdcage.

"…Dante, is it just me, or do these stairs look familiar?"

He frowned. It was highly unlikely they'd be familiar to him, as he was from a different world entirely. Still, he gave them a look. "…Sorry, babe. It's just you."

She sighed. "Huh. I could have sworn these looked familiar…" She noticed two potted plants next to the stairs, and the sense of déjà vu only got stronger. "…Pretty sure I've seen these stairs somewhere before…"

Shrugging it off, she pulled the herbs out of the pots and pocketed them.

Dante gave her a quizzical look. "Uh...what are you doing?"

"Those herbs are medicinal."

He smirked. "Oh...so they're _those_ kinds of plants..."

"H-hey! Don't misunderstand!" she spluttered. "I am a police officer, and I would never use _that_ kind of thing! These are MEDICINE! All sorts of medicines have come from plants, like morphine, or ephedrine, orI'm not helping myself, am I?" she finished with a sigh.

"Nope!" Dante responded cheerfully. "Just remember, Jill: get high on life, not drugs."

"Jerk." She made her way up the stairs, grumbling all the while.

They made their way past a mirror, which Dante deliberately stopped at to admire himself. With another threat from Jill, they continued.

...And nearly collided with a zombie waiting around the corner.

Jill fired off three shots out of reflex. Two hit the torso, but the third went directly into the side of its head. It slumped down, letting out a final moan.

Dante eyed the zombie approvingly. "Not bad, babe. A little wasteful, but you didn't miss."

"Oh, good. I do live for your approval, after all," she responded dryly.

"See? Doesn't it feel better admitting it out loud?"

_Just...don't respond, it'll only encourage him_ she thought to herself.

Moving past, they came upon a statue with an arrow sticking out of it. Either it was a very symbolic statue, or it had somehow managed to piss off Cupid. The former option seems more likely.

Jill pulled the arrow out of the statue. "Hmm…the tip on this thing looks weird…"

Dante inspected it. "You're right. Is that…emerald?"

She frowned, then shook her head. "I may not be a jeweler, but it seems too bright to be emerald. …Peridot, most likely."

That little alarm trilled in the back of his head. The one he hated to hear with a burning passion. And while he had gotten the vibe from the mansion itself (spooky, but not damning in and of itself), the fact that a MAP was sparkling (laminating was ridiculous, but plausible), and seeing a pistol magazine in a birdcage (which _could_ have maybe-possibly-sort of been excused as the panicked last act of Mr. Corpse), this out and out confirmed it.

Insane, stupid, and highly-irritating puzzles were afoot.

Joy.

He held his hand out. "Here. You don't have enough pockets to carry crap like this."

She raised an eyebrow, glancing at his trench coat skeptically. "And…you do?" Getting nothing but a frustrated sigh, she handed it over. "Fair enough. More room for ammo, anyway."

"Expecting to find more clips in birdcages, are we?" he teased.

Her mouth quirked upward. "I am hoping."

Jill noticed a note near the arrow. She picked it up…and less than five seconds later, crumpled it up and tossed it away.

"Huh? What'd it say?"

She rolled her eyes. "Another one of those stupid notes. This one was about using the 'Examine Item' function in the 'Status Screen'."

Dante frowned. As ridiculous as it sounded, maybe the note was some kind of hint about the arrow…

Eh, he didn't care. It had no bearing on him. "Not a very funny joke the first time. Maybe they thought it would get better?"

…For all he had seen throughout his adventures, sometimes Dante could be just as ignorant as the most stubborn humans.

He took a look at another mirror near the statue. "Well, hey there, sexy. Why, you're almost as handsome as that last fella I saw!" Smirking, he noticed an ammo clip at his feet in the mirror. Looking down, he saw it was real. _Thank Father. REALLY not in the mood for demonic mirrors tonight._ He picked it up, handing it to Jill.

"Oh, for me? You shouldn't have," she said dryly as she took it.

"Yeah, well, you know me. Mr. Thoughtful."

"And so humble, too."

"Damn right! I'm the most humble guy there is!"

She shook her head, but Dante caught a brief smile.

* * *

After that, Dante tuned out a bit. Unlock a door, walk on a balcony over the dining room, watch Jill shoot the zombie from across the walkway twice, then hear her curse and walk over to put another bullet in its head, out another door, walk through a wall...

Wait...what?

He shook himself out of his reverie. "Whoa, wait, wait. How did you do that?"

She frowned. "Do what?"

"Back there! How'd you go through a wall?"

She stared at him. "...There was a door. It was the same color as the wall mural behind it."

Well, then. "...Oh."

"You weren't paying attention, were you?" she asked, glaring at him.

"Sorry. When I'm in places like this, I kind of go into autopilot until a fight. There's just no _music_ here."

"And...there were in the other places?"

"Well...sort of." It was just music that popped into his head, to be honest, but it passed the time.

They came upon a slab of granite wall. There was a figure of Cupid holding a bow and arrow.

There was a slot that seemed almost triangular in shape where the arrowhead of Cupid's bow should have been. Which meant-

"Mrr…I get the feeling these crazy puzzles and I aren't going to get along…" Dante grumbled. He studied the granite slab intensely. "Well, it's shaped like an arrowhead…Maybe…" He pulled the arrow with the peridot head out of his trench coat. "Hold this please," he said, handing it to Jill. "Now…we need to find some way of getting this arrow to fit into that spot. We might be able to slide it in lengthwise…heheh…" He stopped pondering briefly to chuckle. "Okay, now focus. If that doesn't work, we'll need to look for some other object shaped like that. We might have to look around here for a rock that-"

_Click._

_Crrrrrrrrrrr…_

He blinked, turning around. The stone slab had disappeared; in its absence, a staircase leading down was revealed, and Jill was looking at him with a triumphant smirk.

"…How the hell did you do that?"

Her smirk grew wider. "That arrowhead came right off."

Dante just stared at her incredulously. Eventually, the terrible realization sunk in. _These puzzles…they have more complexity than any of the ones I've ever come across. It's not just one piece, one door; I might have to mix various pieces together, or break some apart, to make them work. One door…might take even more than just one key. It might take…SEVERAL._

He took it well.

"OH SWEET NEVAN'S ENORMOUS BOUNCING GREEN JUGS I HATE THESE DAMN PUZZLES ALREADY!"

…Relatively speaking.

* * *

Yep. Dante REALLY hates puzzles. Unfortunately for him, the puzzles in his games were extremely tame compared to the ones in the RE series. He'll probably get out of this alive...but the same may not hold true for his sanity.

Well, see you next chapter! ...Which will be later today, but I like saying that.

Also, I can't help but wonder if the RE puzzles like the arrowhead one would be solved just as easily with a similarly-shaped rock. They wouldn't in Dante's games because, well, MAGIC, but here the only restricting factor for not taking the rock route seems to just be time. Though, to be fair, they do have rather more pressing matters to worry about than rock collecting.


	4. Chapter 3: A Newcomer Appears

Meanwhile, back with the others...

* * *

Lady and Nero had followed Barry back to the dining room. He showed them the door where Jill had come from, and they decided to start their exploration from there.

...Which didn't get very far, as they found a zombie standing in their way.

Nero sighed, taking care of it with a shot from Blue Rose. Much to his surprise, the force of two bullets hitting the zombie's head vaporized its skull completely. The headless body pitched forward, and then was still.

"That was...way too easy," he said suspiciously. "Keep an eye on it; for all we know, it'll grow two more heads or something."

Lady shook her head. "Normal zombies are like that. Take out the head, and you take away the threat."

"Isn't that an ineffective monster, then?"

"Not for most humans. Get enough of these things in one area, and..."

Nero became aware of just how empty the mansion was. "I guess." They followed the corridor past the zombie's corpse.

That's not redundant, is it?

Anyway, they made their way down the hallway, past what seemed to be a metal-barred cage or elevator (maybe both), and down a set of crumbling steps to a door.

...Which was locked. Wonderful.

"Let's backtrack to the dining room," Lady suggested. "Barry might have found a key or something like that."

Thus they did.

...And Barry was nowhere to be found.

"That does it," Nero grumbled. "I'm siding with Dante. This is getting all too familiar. Locked doors, backtracking, nobody around to help."

"What am I, chopped liver?" Lady asked semi-irritably. Though she had to admit he had a point.

Suddenly, without warning, Nero grabbed her around the waist. "Hang on tight." He sent the Devil Bringer out, launching them up to the upper floor. He set Lady down. "All right. Let's see if-"

_SLAP!_

"What the hell was that for?!" he growled, rubbing his face.

"Next time you have a plan, EXPLAIN! Don't just grab me and expect me to read your mind! Sheesh...no wonder you and Dante tend to work alone..."

"Hey, hey, I'm sorry, okay? Can we put this behind us for a little while, just so we can keep moving?"

She sighed. "Fine. But _warn_ me next time."

"Deal."

"Urrryahhh..."

The noise came from behind Lady. She whirled around instinctively, shooting it with her pistol.

The zombie fell forward, blood pouring from its forehead. At which point, two more came shuffling up behind it. They were similarly dealt with.

Satisfied, Lady holstered her pistol...and then remembered. She only had one clip for each of her weapons, and likely only one missile for Kalina Anne if she was lucky. She needed to keep a close eye on her ammo if she was going to-

And then it hit her.

"Hey, Nero? Remember when we met Jill and Barry in the main hall?"

"Yeah, and?"

"...Why didn't they say anything about Kalina Anne?"

He blinked. "Who's Kalina Anne?" Then he frowned. "You...don't have an imaginary friend, do you?"

"No, you ass!" she snapped. "It's the name of my missile launcher! I named it after my mother!"

"...Oh." Oops. Well, now he felt like a jerk. Great.

"...ANYWAY, my point is...why didn't they mention it? They're police officers, after all; wouldn't someone carrying a bazooka on their back raise a few red flags?"

Nero frowned. Come to think of it, they also hadn't mentioned his arm, either. "Well, maybe they didn't see it?"

" 'Didn't see it'? How could they _not_?"

"Well, I don't know what to tell ya. Maybe they had crappy eyesight or-" He cut himself off, his eyes widening. "Lady...do you think it was..._him_?"

" 'Him' who?"

"That black-cloaked bastard. The one who took Kyrie."

"You think...he was casting an illusion over us? But he's always been close when he..." Her eyes narrowed. "You're thinking he was in that room with us."

"Yeah," he growled, nodding. Bastard had been in the room with them the whole time, and he'd gotten away.

He walked forward to the nearest door, trying it. This door was unlocked. The two walked through it, into the hallway beyond.

* * *

Kyrie opened her eyes, looking around. This new place they were in...it wasn't like Ichigo's world at all. It seemed...familiar, yet not.

And...she was also in a cell. That was likewise different.

"Hello?" she called out. "Nero? Lady? Dante? Where are you?"

She received no reply.

She surveyed her cell. It seemed to be very old, and the stone benches inside were crumbling...but it was also clean. For that, she was grateful.

Kyrie looked out of the window in her cell door. She was in a basement. Well, possibly. If they'd ended up in a castle, the prison, while usually in the dungeons, could also be located within one of the towers.

She sighed, frustrated. Had that man done this on purpose? Made her the proverbial princess locked in a tower against her will? Kyrie was not a violent person, but she wondered if that black-cloaked man could do with a slap.

She couldn't perceive anything else about her surroundings...except a feeling. A very odd sensation.

Kyrie couldn't explain how, but this place felt very...sick. Not in a deranged sense, but...it felt as if something about the world itself was very ill.

"Where am I?"

"You're in the Spencer Mansion, as it so happens."

She jumped at the sudden voice. Turning around, she saw the man (what was his name again?) sitting on one of the cell benches. "You're that man from before."

He nodded, giving a short bow. "Mar, at your service. I suppose you're wondering why I've locked you up, yes?" She nodded. "I doubt you'll believe me, but...this is actually for your own protection."

She blinked at that. "I don't understand."

He sighed. "This mansion...is full of monsters. Some are slow, some are fast, and some are freakishly mutated fly monsters. It's dangerous out there, and this is the safest place I could bring you to."

She hadn't been expecting that. "Why are you worried about keeping me safe?"

"For Nero's sake. He may not like me at all, but..." He seemed to struggle with something. "...But I respect him. There, I said it."

"If this world is so dangerous, why bring us here?"

He smirked. "I always knew Nero saw a lot in you..." His smirk dropped. "I have my orders. You all needed to be brought here."

"But why me?" she wondered. "I'm not like Nero; I can't fight demons."

"That's true. But tell me...do you know how powerful Nero is, when he's fighting to save or protect you? Even if you're not fighting, it is necessary for you to be here." He stood up. "He's strong, Kyrie. That strength is essential to...certain entities. The ones that give me my orders."

"Why do you follow your orders?" she asked. "Why take us from our world at all?"

"...I can't say. Not yet, anyway." He sighed. "Now...is there anything you'd like me to get you? Food? Water? Music? Pen and paper?"

"You could let me out," she said innocently.

"Oh. Well, all right then." He was just grabbing on to the door handle when he paused. "Nice try. But this really is for your own good. If you need me for anything else, just call out my name." With that, a portal opened at his feet. He dropped into it, with the portal closing immediately behind him.

Kyrie sighed. So she was trapped again. She was able to actually move around and call for help this time, but was still trapped all the same.

"Nero..."

* * *

The man in question had just made it through the door with Lady, but just as he turned around, he found a gun in his face.

"Freeze! Who the hell are you?!"

Lady brought her gun up on reflex, but Nero didn't. Truth be told, the only one who'd ever pointed a gun at him before was Dante, and it was never point blank.

The person (man, judging from the voice) had actually managed to take him by surprise. It was almost funny.

...Scratch the almost.

"Easy, there. We're human." More or less. "I'm Nero. Who are you?"

The man holding the gun eyed the both of them, still not dropping his guard.

Reluctantly, Lady lowered her pistol, sighing.

The man did the same. "Officer Redfield, of the Special Tactics And Rescue Service. You're under arrest."

Nero blinked. "...What?"

He smirked. "...Just kidding." Then he frowned. "Still...who are you two? Where'd you come from?" He eyed Lady. "Some sort of military outfit?"

"We're, uh...lost," Nero finished lamely.

Redfield blinked. "Just lost?"

Lady rolled her eyes. "Look, with all the undead things roaming around in this mansion, are you really going to say no to free allies with rocket launchers?"

He chuckled. "Well, when you put it like that..." He smirked. "I guess I should count myself lucky. If supernatural creatures like the ones from movies are randomly appearing, at least it's not dragons."

Nero shrugged. "Eh, I was never much of a movie person. Comics are my thing."

He snorted. "That's even worse! Shooting at the shambling undead is fine, but I'd be horrified if I had to go up against...against Spider-Man, or Magneto or something."

Nero began to get a very bad headache, but shrugged it off. "I wouldn't mind them, actually. Now if we're talking The Hulk..." He shook his head. "Even I'm not that eager for that fight. Dante would probably love it, though."

Redfield gave an odd smile. "The Hulk, huh? You're right, but...now that you say it, I almost want to try it."

The headache was REALLY bad now. Nero stopped talking, focusing on fighting off the migrane.

"We're getting off topic," Lady noted. "And before you ask, no. We have no idea what's going on here either."

"I don't suppose you'd know...how I got here?"

Lady blinked. "You don't know?"

"Nope. I was walking through a door to get away from one of those things on the first floor...and then I found myself here. From what I can tell...this is the second floor, right?" They nodded. "Something strange is going on here..."

Nero had a good idea what had happened to Officer Redfield, but he felt it probably wasn't prudent to say that a black-cloaked wizard had teleported him from one room to another.

"You got that right, officer."

Redfield shook his head. "Nah, don't worry about that crap, now. Just call me Chris." He motioned for them to continue.

Shrugging, they followed Chris down the corridor.

None of them heard the lock click closed on the door they had come through.

* * *

And there's this chapter!

Well, the usual. Read, review, reduce, reuse, recycle...

...Wait, back that up. You know what I mean.

Anyway, one more to go for tonight! See you in the next chapter!

* * *

P.S. - I only hope I'm able to tie the stories together relatively well. The problem with RE1 and RE2 is that a lot of their puzzles and routes through the game are identical (though they do switch it up a little in 2). Thus, trying to mash them together means that either the puzzles have to get undone deliberately or just skipped altogether. And let's be honest; do you really want to see me write the same puzzle setups for two sets of characters teams?

...That said, though, the puzzles for the game are going to have a few twists here and there, so don't think a strategy guide will save you. ;-p


	5. Chapter 4: Of Bathtubs and Shotguns

Meanwhile, back with our other other heroes...

* * *

"Well, this place is cheery," Jill piped up.

Dante eyed the coffin suspended in the air by four chains, then the torches burning around them, and then smelled the dank air in the "basement"-type area they were in. "You know it. Nothing but sunshine and farts in here."

Snickering, she walked over to investigate the pedestal area. It seemed to be surrounded by four busts; all with different parts of them missing. The pedestal itself had…a purple book?

She picked it up. "What do you think of this?"

Dante frowned at the cover. " 'Book of Curse'? If this thing summons something from the Netherrealm, I am SO out."

Jill turned it in her hands, studying it. On the back was a metal inset that also functioned as a clasp, holding- "A key! Nice to see that we get some decent rewards for these insane puzzles."

" 'Decent rewards'? Babe, a key is just a puzzle piece waiting to be used. For solving a puzzle, we just got rewarded with ANOTHER puzzle," he grumbled.

Jill diligently ignored him, choosing instead to remove the small key. As she did, the clasp it rested in clicked open, and the book was able to be read. She made to open it.

"No, wait…Don't do it! It might curse you, put it-"

But it was too late. She had already started reading.

…

Or rather, _tried_ to read.

"Uh, Dante? This book…it's all written in a language I can't understand."

Well, THAT got him curious. He took the book from her and looked through it. But the language was just as alien to him. The heading on the first page was "_Divina Commedia_". _Divine Comedy? Not QUITE Latin, but close. Maybe…Eh, it's got nothing to do with me, anyway_. As for the rest, he had no idea. "Huh. I got nothing here, either." He carelessly skimmed through the whole thing, still written in that weird language, until he got to the back cover. On the inside of it was scrawled a message, and in English, no less. That ruled out a spell that screwed with their literacy skills. "Yo, check this out."

Jill peered over his shoulder, reading aloud. "'_The masks of Ignorance are as follows. A mask that Speaks no Evil…a mask that Smells no Evil…a mask that Sees no Evil…and finally, a mask that neither Speaks, nor Smells, nor Sees Evil. When all four fall into place…_'"

"'_Evil shall awaken._'" Dante finished. He closed the book, tucking it into his trench coat. "Well, then. Pro tip: keep any and all masks the _hell_ away from this place."

* * *

Backtracking through the wall ("Oh, so THAT'S how you did that"), they took a look at both their newfound key and the shiny map. The key had a small sword on it...and the door in the room where they had found the map was marked "Sword Key". Seemed like the best place to start.

Jill used the key, which did in fact unlock that door, and they walked through.

They ended up in anoth-

"Another hallway. Yay for originality," Dante complained in a flat voice.

...

In another hallway. As they took a few steps forward, they heard something hit the glass of the window in the hallway. Dante drew both of his guns and waited. He KNEW something was going to come bursting through; that was the way these things worked. He waited. And waited.

...And re-holstered his pistols. "The hell was that about?" he growled.

"It could've just been a tree branch, or rock, or something," Jill said reasonably.

"Or it could've been a...I don't know, demon dog for all we knew," Dante pointed out.

Jill considered this statement. It sounded ridiculous, but...after all they'd seen tonight...

"You might be right. Stay sharp."

They moved cautiously through the hall, staring at the window as they passed it, but nothing more happened.

They opened a door, stepping into-

"_Another_ hallway? What the hell was wrong with the architect? What's wrong with a nice, cozy lounge every now and then?"

Surprisingly, it was Jill who was grumbling this time.

Dante nodded. "A bar or something wouldn't be too bad, either." He sighed. "Well...shall we?"

"We shall." They went forward, opening the first door ahead of them.

* * *

They found themselves in a bathroom. From the looks of it, no one had cleaned it in quite some time. There was a grimy sink to their immediate right, a toilet cubicle to their far right, and a bathtub filled with some kind of fluid that was a sickly dark color; inky black with shots of yellow.

Dante thanked the fact that he'd smelled worse before, because the smell of that stuff was _horrible_.

Jill, to her credit, didn't seem to be sickened by it to a physical degree. Still, she seemed a bit green as she looked into the bathtub. "Ugh. It's filthy…"

Dante nodded. "You got that right. It's the spitting image of Arkham; after he let himself go, of course. The smell's not quite as bad, though."

"Uh…right. Anyway, we should check it for any keys or anything like that."

"You're probably right; they're always lying in the weirdest of places." He waited.

…Silence.

He blinked. "So, are you gonna check it or what?"

"Are you serious?! I'm not sticking my hand in there! For all I know, that's full of the stuff that caused these creatures in the first place!" she exclaimed, her voice slightly higher than usual.

Dante sighed in irritation. "And you're gonna make _me_ do it instead. How brave of you." Glaring at her, he grabbed a chain that was leading into the water and pulled up. He turned and gave Jill a look as dirty as the water behind him as it began to drain. "Wow…that was SO hard…"

A rotting hand rose out of the water behind him. He turned around, an amused look on his face. "Well, hi there." He backed up slowly as a body climbed out of the water, looking at Jill. "So, you wanna take care of this?" She made no response, standing stock-still. _Yeah, I know the thing's ugly and half decaying, but come on. I dunno about you, but I've seen WAY worse things than…Oh. Right._ The undead man crawled out of the tub, his hands reaching for their throats. "You gonna shoot him, or…?" He poked her in the arm, and got a shill scream as a result. He sighed. "Fine, I'll do this, too." He tripped the shambling corpse, and as it fell, Ebony was leveled at its temple.

_BANG!_

The rotting state of the body, coupled with an extended time soaked in water, had left it in a very mushy state. The former man's head exploded like a water balloon, coating the far wall with blood, brain matter, and what was left of bone.

He wrinkled his nose in disgust. "Huh…guess I should've thought a little more about that, huh?" He turned to look at Jill, and saw that some of the spray had gotten on her shirt. "Oh…oops."

It was then that the control of her muscles came back, along with a rising of bile. She clamped a hand to her mouth, raced to the toilet, and heaved everything in her stomach into the grimy bowl.

"Classy," Dante muttered.

* * *

After Jill had composed herself, they looked inside the now-drained tub.

All they saw was a dagger. This one Jill refused to take, as it was still covered in the same fetid liquid that had filled the tub. Dante didn't blame her, but that didn't stop him ribbing her about it.

"Really was _knife_ of you to make me drain that tub," Dante said as they left the room.

"Oh, shut up," she snapped as they moved further down the hallway.

"No, no, I mean it. And just sitting there while I took a _shot_ at tackling that zombie."

She opened the next door. "Dante, I'm warning you..."

He opened his mouth to retort again, but stopped as he glanced around the room they'd walked into. It was square, with a REALLY high ceiling. Dante had a sneaking suspicion he should know what kind of room this was...

...But he couldn't place it. Shrugging, he followed her through the only other door.

The room beyond was-

"See, Jill? Ask, and you receive...or...something like that."

Indeed, they were now in a sitting room of sorts. On one end was a fireplace, with a dagger on the mantle that Jill took. She pulled her spare clips out, setting them down so she could re-arrange the different items in her pockets (that key kept digging into her hip). In the middle were a few small couches and a table with a tea set still on it, and on the far side-

"Ohoho! What do we have here?" Dante marveled out loud.

Jill looked over from the mantle and saw that a mounted shotgun had caught his eye. _Hmm…an old-fashioned double-barreled twelve-gauge shotgun._ "Nice find. That thing could clear out entire _rooms_ of those freaks…" She sighed. "Too bad we don't have any shells."

He snorted. "Shells? Please." He yanked the gun off the wall, raised it in the air and…

_BANG!_

"See?" He grinned as Jill gaped at him.

"But…shells…I…HOW…?!"

"Man, I guess this makes it official. I always find one of these bad boys on a mission…if I don't take one with, that is." He held it in front of him, scratching his chin. "Hmm…it's not bad, but it needs a few…finishing touches."

Despite her shock, she managed to get out: "Like?"

He tossed it up in the air, pulling Rebellion off his back and making two quick slashes to the gun. He caught it with his other hand, the stock and barrel lengths he'd cut dropping to the floor. "That." He flipped it down, empty shells popping out, and flipped it back up, pulling the hammers back. "All _right_! Ready to go?"

She nodded, dumbfounded at the casual violation of the laws of physics. "Y-yeah." _Dante…just what the hell IS he?!_

"Now all it needs is a name! I'm gonna name you...Coyote Gamma. No, that's predictable. Dragon's Fang? No, I think that's taken. Boomer? Too boring..."

He stored it in his trench coat, leading a dumbstruck Jill out of the room. As they made their way back out of the room, neither noticed that the mount, devoid of the weight of the shotgun, had risen up.

As the door shut behind them, Dante heard it lock shut. "The hell?" Suddenly, a loud rumbling sound started above them. "Don't tell me…"

Jill prepared to ask what was wrong, but saw dust begin to fall right in front of her. Her gaze wandered up, and saw something very, very bad.

"Looks like the sky's falling. Or ceiling, I guess," he mumbled nonchalantly. "Shoulda figured there'd be a trap for something like that."

She made to go back through the door they had come through, but Dante shook his head. "Locked, babe. Besides, we don't wanna go that way." He nodded towards the other door.

She raced to the other door, checking it. _Jammed?! Dammit!_ "Oh, no…what do we do now?!"

He rolled his eyes, unmindful of the ceiling a mere foot and a half away from his head. "Well, obviously, either stop the ceiling or get the door open. Can you pick the lock?"

"There's not enough time!"

"Shoot it out, then."

She yanked her Samurai Edge out, pointing it at the lock and pulling the trigger.

_Click._

She looked at the pistol in horror. "It can't be…" She pulled the trigger again in disbelief. _Click. Click._ "No…not now…" And then she remembered where she'd left her spare ammo...

She quickly re-holstered the pistol and slammed the door with her fist. "Wesker! Chris! Barry! Anyone! HELP!"

Dante sighed, holding up his arms. The ceiling touched his palms, and he felt the pressure begin to start. "I can buy you a minute or two. After that, this might be a little tricky…"

"Wh-What are you…Dante, what do you think you're-?!"

Dante pressed upward. With a mighty shudder, the ceiling stopped. For the moment.

"Try the door again," he said, his voice slightly strained. The ceiling, with a loud rumble, very slowly began descending again. _Damn…there must be a TON of weight behind this thing! Feels like when that damn statue tried steppin' on me back at Fortuna!_

She banged on the door again. "Someone! Anyone! HELP!"

"…Jill, is that you?!" a familiar voice asked from the other side.

She gasped with relief. "Barry?! Quick, we're trapped in here, and the door's jammed! Hurry!"

Barry frowned at the loud, rumbling noise within. _I don't know what the hell's going on in there, but whatever it is, it sounds bad._ "Stand back! I'm going to shoot the lock out!" He pointed his revolver at the lock.

_BANG!_

He yanked the door open, seeing Dante in a crouch between the lowered ceiling and the floor, with Jill practically laying under him. Her head whipped around to look at Barry.

He reached a hand in. "Here! Grab my arm!"

She did, holding on for dear life as he hauled her out of there.

_Finally_ Dante thought. _Now I can Devil Trigger and get the hell out of here!_ "You two! Look away and close your eyes!"

Barry blinked. "Dante?! What're you-"

"Do it now!"

"Why?" Jill yelled.

He glared at them. "Just do it!" With looks of confusion, they nevertheless complied. _About damn time!_

With a flash of demonic energy, his skin and trench coat took on a reptilian look; his skin darkened, and his hands and feet formed sharp claws. His strength renewed by the surge of power, he heaved upwards, forcing the ceiling back up a few feet with a monstrous rumble. He took his chance, lunging out of the door and returning to his human form. The ceiling, having the obstacle to its movement suddenly removed, lurched downward with a final crush.

Barry opened his eyes at the noise, noticing Dante laying next to Jill. "Whew…now what was that about?"

Jill sighed, relief washing over her like a warm wave. "The room must've been trapped…I don't know how…" she panted.

Dante sighed. "Guess that area's off-limits, then. Tch…not like there was anything left there, anyway." He laid back. "Hoo…what a close one."

Barry nodded. "You got that right!" he said, chuckling at Jill. "If I'd have been a little later, you would've been a Jill Sandwich!"

Dante raised an eyebrow. "Mmm…Jill sandwich…I think I could go for one of those," he mused, licking his lips.

She rolled her eyes. "I'd almost be justified to shoot you if you didn't keep saving my life. All the same, don't push it." Barry helped her to her feet. "You saved me too, Barry. If you hadn't have been here…" Then something occurred to her. "Speaking of which, why _are_ you here? Not that I'm ungrateful or anything, but didn't you say you were going to go through the dining room?"

He frowned. "Well, I, uh-"

"Cop's intuition, eh?" Dante asked as he got to his feet. "I get it…and while you were doubling back, you heard me blast that shotgun." He grinned. "Good thing I decided to give it a test fire."

Barry nodded. "Yeah…you got that right." Inwardly, he breathed a sigh of relief. "Anyway, we should keep looking for Wesker and Chris." He started to walk away. "You two seem to be all right; I'll leave this area to you."

"Barry, wait." He stopped at her plea, looking back at the two. "Thanks, Barry. We owe you one."

He nodded. "Yeah…don't mention it." He turned to exit the door behind him, hiding the dark, pained look on his face.

* * *

And...there. The first five chapters of Resident DEvil, all uploaded in a day.

...I realize that doesn't seem like much to you, but darn it if it isn't extremely difficulty to write out all at once.

Still, we did get to cover a lot of ground, including one or two of my personal favorite bits of RE1 (Remake or not, did you REALLY think I was going to let the Jill Sandwich go?!). I hope it was okay.

This chapter also featured one of the moments that genuinely terrified me when I played it: the part with the window. It's one thing for the player to get attacked right away by something crashing through a window, but to spook me like that and just leave me paranoid for the return trip?

Well played, Capcom. Well played.

However, I do believe that's it for today. See you all next month!


End file.
